/ 


9 


Vol.  VII, 


JUNE,  1  8  5  0, 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH 


No.  6, 


Of  the  Right  Rev.  John  Stark  Ravenscroft,  D.  D.,  First  Bishop  of  the 
Diocese  of  North  Carolina. 


|E  cannot  do  better,  in 
presenting  to  our  read- 
ers a  biograpliical  sketcli 
of  the  subject  of  this  me- 
moir, than  to  give  it  in 
the  language  in  which  he  has 
himself  prepared  it.    At  the  earnest 
request  of  many  of  his  friends,  who 
thought  that  great  good  might  be 
thus  accomplished,  Bishop  Ravens- 
croft'prepared  a  sketch  of  his  life,  which, 
without  further  comment,  we  give  to  our 
readers. 

"  Though  a  native  of  Virginia,  being  born  in  the 
county  of  Prince  George,  in  the  year  1772,  of  which  ( 
State  my  progenitors,  as  far  back  as  I  have  been  ) 
able  to  trace  them,  vrith  the  exception  of  my  ma-  ? 

'  ternal  gi-andfather,  were  also  natives — my  first  ) 
recollections  are  of  Scotland,  my  parents  having  / 
removed  from  Virginia  the  same  year  in  which  I  j 
was  born  ;  and,  after  an  interval  of  about  two  years  J 
spent  in  the  north  of  England,  purchased  and  set-  ( 
tied  finally  in  the  south  of  Scotland,  where  my  mo-  ! 
ther  and  two  sisters  still  reside.   Here  I  received  } 

I  the  rudiments  of  my  education ;  and  I  feel  bound  to  ' 
record,  that  T  owe  much  to  the  custom  there  estab- 
lished of  making  the  Scriptures  a  school  book — a 
custom,  I  am  gi-ioved  to  say  it,  not  only  abandoned 
in  the  schools  and  academies  among  us,  but  de- 
nounced as  improper,  if  not  injurious.    Although  I 


was  unconscious,  at  the  time,  of  any  power  or  influ- 
ence over  my  thoughts  or  actions  thence  derived, 
yet  what  mere  memory  retained  of  their  life-giving 
ti-uths,  proved  of  unspeakable  advantage,  when  I 
became  awakened  on  the  subject  of  religion ;  and  I 
am  constrained  to  believe,  that  what  was  thus  un- 
consciously sown  in  my  heart,  though  smothered 
and  choked  by  the  levity  of  j'outh,  and  abused  and 
perverted  by  the  negligence  and  sinfulness  of  my 
riper  years,  was  nevertheless  a  preparation  of 
Heaven's  foresight  and  mercy,  for  grace  to  quicken 
me — a  mighty  help  to  my  amazed  and  confounded 
soul,  when  brought  to  a  just  view  of  my  actual  con- 
dition as  a  sinner,  both  by  nature  and  by  practice. 
Witbout  this  help,  I  might,  like  thousands  of  others, 
have  wandered  in  a  bewildered  state,  the  prey  of 
many  delusions — engendered  by  the  anxieties  of  a 
disturbed  and  ignorant  mind,  or  by  the  fanaticism 
of  those  many  well  meaning,  perhaps,  but  certainly 
most  ignorant  men,  who  yet  venture  to  become 
teachers  of  religion.  For  this  reason  it  is  that  I 
have  been  earnest,  during  my  ministry,  in  pressing 
upon  parents,  and  upon  those  who  have  the  care  of 
youth,  the  great  duty  of  furnishing  their  tender  and 
pliant  minds  with  the  treasures  of  divine  know- 
ledge and  saving  truth,  contained  in  God's  revealed 
word.  No  matter  what  specious  ai-guments  may 
be  brought  against  the  practice,  we  can  reply,  that 
it  is  a  means  of  grace  of  God's  own  appointment, 
and  one  too  which  he  has  [promised  to  bless  and 
make  effectaal.  No  matter  though  it  be  objected, 
as  it  often  is  objected  by  the  vain  disputers  of 
this  world — that  the  minds  of  children  can  not  com- 
prehend such  deep  and  unsearchable  wonders — 


162        Biographical  Sketch  of  Right  Rev.  John  Stake  Ravenscroft. 


God,  we  know,  is  able  to  open  theiv  understand- 
ings, and  out  of  the  mouths  of  babes  and  svclcHngs 
to  perfect  praise.  No  matter,  though  it  be  argued, 
that  it  is  in  vafn,  if  not  actually  wrong,  to  force  their 
minds  to  religion,  and  thus  give  them  a  distaste,  and 
even  an  antipathy  against  it.  Alas!  what  a  flimsy 
subterfuge  of  unbelief  and  opposition  to  God  ;  and 
yet  what  numbers  ai-e  swayed  by  it !  For,  is  it 
thought  wrong,  or  even  improper,  to  force  their 
minds,  if  we  must  use  the  words,  to  any  other 
branch  of  learning?  and  yet  the  danger  of  distaste, 
and  even  of  antipathy,  to  human  sciences,  must  be 
equally  great.  Besides,  is  not  this  distaste,  and 
even  antipathy,  to  divine  things,  the  natural  state 
of  fallen  creatures:  and  religion,  the  love  of  God, 
and  goodness,  a  forced,  that  is,  an  unnatural  state, 
to  us  spiritually  dead  and  undone  creatures,  and 
therefore  to  be  counteracted  by  every  possible 
means  ?  Let  no  parent,  then,  be  led  away  by  this 
infidel  sophistry,  to  withhold  religious  instruction 
from  the  earliest  years  of  his  children,  or  to  trust 
them  in  a  school  where  the  Bible  is  excluded  as  a 
class  book. 

"  Having  lost  my  father  in  my  ninth  year,  it  be- 
came necessary  to  return  to  Virginia,  to  look  after 
the  wreck  of  his  propert3^  In  my  seventeenth 
year,  accordingly,  I  was  separated  from  all  I  had 
ever  known,  and  that  was  dear  to  me,  and  landed 
in  Virginia  on  New  Year's  day,  1789 — a  stranger  to 
all  around  me,  and  in  great  part  my  own  master — 
at  least  without  any  control  I  had  been  accustomed 
to  respect.  That  under  such  circumstances  I  should 
quickly  overcome  those  habits  which  the  restraints 
of  education  had  imposed,  and  wander  after  the 
lusts  of  my  sinful  heart,  and  the  desires  of  my  dark- 
ened eyes,  is  hardly  to  be  wondered  at.  Wander 
indeed  I  did,  not  even  waiting  for  temptation,  but 
madly  seeking  it,  and  soon  lost  every  early  good 
impression,  and  even  those  fears  and  misgivings 
about  futurity,  of  which  all  men  are  conscious  occa- 
sionally 

"  In  looking  back  upon  this  period  of  my  life,  I 
think  it  may  be  profitable  to  advert  to  a  circum- 
stance which  had  great  influence  in  confirming  me 
in  the  sinful  course  I  was  pursuing.  It  being  de- 
termined by  my  friends  that  I  should  turn  my  atten- 
tion to  the  profession  of  the  law,  as  presenting  the 
fairest  prospects  ofhonor  and  emolument,  I  entered 
the  college  of  William  and  Mary,  that  I  might  at- 
tend the  law  lectures  of  the  celebrated  Mr.  Wythe, 
together  with  the  other  courses  of  scientific  ac- 
quirement there  taught.  The  plan  was  doubtless 
good,  and  might  have  been  of  the  greatest  advan- 
tage to  my  prospects  in  life  ,  but  by  throwing  me 
still  more  upon  my  own  guidance,  and  increasing 
my  means  of  self  indvilgence,  by  the  liberal  allow- 
ance for  my  expenses,  it  increased  in  an  equal  de- 
gree the  power  of  temptation,  and  I  have  to  look 
back  on  the  time  spent  in  college  as  more  marked 
by  proficiency  in  extravagance,  and  juvenile  vice, 
than  in  scientific  attainment.    Yet  the  means  of 


improvement  were  fully  within  my  reach,  and  that 
I  did  not  profit  more,  is  wholly  my  own  fault.  The 
professors  in  the  different  departments  were  able 
men,  and  the  regulations  of  the  institution  good  in 
themselves,  but  they  were  not  enforced  with  the 
vigilance  and  precision  necessary  to  make  them 
eiEcient,  in  that  moral  discipline  so  supremely  im- 
portant at  this  period  of  life.  Except  at  the  hours 
appropriated  to  the  lectures,  my  time  was  at  my 
own  disposal ;  and  though  expected  to  attend  pray- 
ers every  morning  in  the  college  chapel,  absence 
was  not  strictly  noticed,  and  very  slight  excuses 
were  admitted.  Attendance  at  Church,  on  Sunday, 
was  entirely  optional,  and  the  great  subject  of  re- 
ligion wholly  unattended  to.  The  students  were 
required  to  board  in  college  ;  but  from  the  small 
number — not  exceeding  fifteen — from  the  low  price 
of  board,  aud  the  constant  altercations  with  the 
steward— the  public  table  was  given  up,  and  the 
students  permitted  to  board  in  taverns,  or  else- 
where, as  suited  them.  This  every  way  injurious, 
and  most  unwise  permission,  presented  facilities 
for  dissipation  which  would  not  otherwise  have 
been  found ;  and  encouraged  as  they  were  by  the 
readiness  with  which  credit  was  obtained  from  per- 
sons whose  calculations  were  formed  on  the  heed- 
lessness and  improvidence  of  youth,  temptation  was 
divested  of  all  present  impediment  to  its  power. 
This  last  is  an  evil  which  I  believe  attends  all  sem-: 
inaries  of  learning,  and  forms  one  of  the  greatest' 
obstacles  to  their  real  usefulness,  and  one  of  the 
most  fruitful  nurseries  of  vice.  As  such,  it  ought 
to  be  met  and  resisted  by  the  whole  power  of  the 
community,  and  by  the  arm  of  the  law  inflicting 
severe  pecuniary  penalty,  independent  of  the  loss 
of  the  debt  contracted — and  even  imprisonment  of 
the  person  convicted  of  giving  credit  to  a  student  at 
any  college,  or  other  public  seminary  of  learning. 
Some  such  provision,  it  appears  to  me,  is  essential 
to  the  public  usefulness  of  such  institutioas ;  and  if 
enforced  with  due  vigilance  by  the  professors,  in 
whose  name,  and  at  whose  instance,  the  prosecu- 
tion should  be  carried  on,  svould  go  far  to  counteract 
this  increasing  mischief.  And  when  it  is  consid- 
ered that  the  practice  of  giving  credit  to  minors 
under  such  circumstances,  is  a  stab  at  the  very 
vitals  of  society,  hardly  any  penalty  can  be  cousid-^ 
ered  too  sevei'e. 

"While  I  thus  walked  according  to  the  coxirse  of 
this  world,  fulfilling  the  desires  of  the  flesh  and  of 
the  mind,  the  customs  and  manners  of  genteel  soci- 
ety imposed  some  degree  of  restraint  upon  my  out- 
ward deportment;  and  the  respect  I  really  enter- 
tained for  some  excellent  persons,  who  favored  me 
with  their  notice  and  regard,  preserved  me  froni 
open  debauchery.  Strange  creatures !  we  can  sub,- 
mit  to  some  restraint,  and  command  ourselves  to 
some  self-denial,  for  the  praise  of  man  that  is  a 
n'orm,  while  we  madly  defy  the  omnipotent  God  ! 
We  can  be  influenced  by  the  fear  of  a  fellow-crea- 
ture, while  there  is  no  fear  of  God  before  our  eyes. 


Biographical  Sketch  of  Right  Rev.  John  Stark  Ravenscroft.  163 


{)  What  other  proof  do  we  need  to  convince  ns  that  I  So  true  is  the  expression  of  the  Psalmist  that  ike 
!]  we  are  fallen  creatures,  spiritually  dead,  and  must  wicked  hatli  no  bands  in  death.  So  great  was  my 
5  continue  such,  unless  quickened  into  life  by  God  )  neglect,  in  fact  disrespect,  of  even  the  outward 
|i  the  Holy  Ghost  ?  '  forms  of  religion,  that  from  the  year  17S2  to  the  year 

|l  "  These  restraints,  however,  could  not  have  con-  {  1810,  I  was  not  present  at  any  place  of  public  wor- 
|L  tinned  to  operate  for  any  length  of  time  against  the  )  ship  more  than  six  or  seven  times,  and  then  not 
I  natural  tendency  of  vice  to  wax  worse  and  worse  ;  /  from  choice,  but  from  some  accidental  accommoda- 
'  and  that  I  became  not  totally  and  irrecoverably  sunk  J  tion  to  propriety,  in  surrendering  to  the  opinions  of 
I   in  its  ruinous  deiJths,  I  owe,  under  Goo,  to  a  most  /  others. 

I  excellent  woman,  who  consented  to  become  my  I     "  Indeed  the  kind  of  preaching  I  had  it  in  my  pow- 
l'  wife  in  my  2l6t  year.    This  event  gave  a  new  di-  \  er  to  hear,  was  not  of  a  description  to  engage  the 
j  rection  to  the  course  of  my  life.    I  abandoned  the  )  attention  of  any  informed  mind.    I  soonfound  that  I 
j  study  of  law  and  embraced  a  country  life,  devoting  j  knew  more  of  the  Scriptures  from  memory  than  the 
If  myself  to  agricultural  pursuits.     Thus  removed    preachers,  and  was  vain  enough  to  think  that  I  un- 
I  from  the  temptations  and  facilities  to  vice,  which  }  derstood  them  better  and  coald  apply  them  more 
[?  our  cities  and  towns  present  so  readily,  with  regu-  \  correctly,  than  the  well-meaning  pei'haps,  but  cer- 
lar  and  pleasant  occupation  on  my  farm,  and  my  ^  tainly  most  ignorant,  unqualified,  and  of  course  in- 
domestic  happiness  studied  and  promoted  by  the  r  jurious  men,  who  appeared  around  in  the  character 
affectionate  partner  of  my  life — my  years  rolled  on  |  of  ministers  of  religion.    But  as  I  had  ng  spiritual 
as  happily — were  the  present  life  alone  to  be  pro-  /  senses  as  yet  quickened  in  me,  the  preaching  of  the 
vided  for — as  could  reasonably  be  desired.    The  (  cross,  even  from  an  angel,  would  have  been  to  me 
pei'sonal  regard  I  entertained  for  my  wife,  increased  |  as  to  the  Greeks  of  old — foolishness.    Oh  what  a 
to  the  highest  esteem,  and  even  veneration,  as  the  /  miracle  of  long  safFering,  that  in  all  this  time  God 
virtues  of  her  character  opened  upon  me,  while  the  '  was  not  provoked  to  cut  me  off!    What  a  miracle 
prudence  and  discretion  of  her  conduct  won  me  ;  of  grace,  that  I  am  permitted  to  think  and  speak  of 
gradually  from  my  previous  dissipated  habits.   She  \  it,  and  to  adore  the  riches  of  his  mercy,  in  bringing 
was  a  woman  of  high  principle  and  of  a  very  inde-  (  me  to  a  better  mind  ! 

pendent  character:  what  she  did  not  approve  of,  )  "  It  was  in  the  year  1810  that  it  pleased  God  to 
she  would  not  smile  upon  ;  yet  she  never  gave  (  set  my  mind  at  work,  and  gradually  to  bring  me  to 
me  a  cross  word,  or  an  illnatured  look  in  her  life,  ^  doubt  the  dark  security  of  my  unawakened  state, 
andin  the  twenty-three  years  it  pleased  God  to  But  I  am  not  conscious  of  any  peculiar  incident  or 
spare  her  to  me,  such  was  her  discretion,  that  i  circumstance,  that  first  led  me  to  considerations  of 
though  I  often  acted  otherwise  than  she  could  have  J  the  kind. 

wished  me  to  do,  and  though  she  was  faithful  to  )  "As  I  was  the  manager  of  my  own  estate,  which 
reprove  me,  there  never  was  a  quarrel  or  temporary  (  comprised  a  set  of  mills,  as  well  as  a  plantation, 
estrangement  between  us  She  opejied  her  mouth  j  about  two  miles  distant  from  each  other,  I  was  of 
with  wisdom,  and  in  her  tongve  was  the  law  of  kind  '!  course  much  alone,  at  least  in  that  kind  of  solitude 
71CSS.  So  that  when  she  left  me  for  a  better  world,  {  which  gives  the  mind  opportunity  to  commune  with 
it  was  an  exceeding  comfort  to  me  that  I  could  look  J  itself.  It  was  in  my  rides  from  one  to  the  other, 
back  upon  so  little  to  reproach  myself  with,  res-  I  and  while  superintending  the  labors  of  my  people, 
pecting  her;  only  this,  that  but  for  the  last  five  \  that  a  train  of  thought,  to  which  I  was  previously 
years  of  our  union,  had  I  any  sense  of  her  real  )  altogether  unaccustomed,  began  to  occupy  my  at- 
value,  or  of  God's  goodness  in  giving  her  to  me,  or  (  tention,  and  though  dismissed  once  and  again  would 
any  communion  with  her  in  the  love  of  that  Saviour,  j  still  return,  and  with  every  return  would  interest 
who  had  been  her  hope  and  trust  through  life,  )  me  more  and  more.  That  the  train  of  thought  thus 
(though  she  was  not  formally  a  professor^ — the  {  suggested,  concerned  my  condition  as  an  accounta- 
Church  in  which  she  was  baptised  having  been  cast  |)  able  creature,  willbe  readily  imagined,  as  also,  that 
down  before  she  came  to  yeai's  of  discretion) — and  /  on  the  review  I  found  it  bad  enough.  This  it  was 
who  was  her  stay  and  support  in  the  hour  of  death.  (  no  difficult  thing  for  me  to  feel  and  to  admit,  nor  as 
'  O  how  good  it  is,'  would  she  say  to  me  as  I  )  yet  did  there  appear  much  difficulty  in  reforming 
watched  by  her  dying  bed,  '  to  have  a  Saviour,  and  (  what  I  could  not  justify. 

s«c7t  a  Saviour?'  (     "An  impatient  and  passionate  temper,  with  a 

"  But  though  my  marriage  certainly  produced  a  )  most  sinful  and  hateful  habit  of  profane  swearing, 
great  change  in  my  outward  conduct,  I  was  never-  (  in  which  I  was  a  great  proficient,  were  my  most 
theless  as  far  from  God  as  ever ;  without  even  a  {  open  and  besetting  sins.  These,  however,  I  con- 
thought  of  religion,  or  once  opening  the  Bible  for  )  sidered  as  within  my  own  control,  and  as  such,  set 
eighteen  years,  to  learn  what  God  the  Lord  should  (  forthwith  about  amending  them,  but  without  any  re- 
say,  or  once  bending  my  knees  in  prayer  to  him,  on  \  liauce  upon  God  for  help,  or  without  much  if  any  im- 
whom  my  all  depended;  and  though  twice  in  this  (  pression  that  it  was  at  all  needful.  In  this  endeavor 
time  brought  to  the  gates  of  death  by  sickness,  yet  s  at  reformation,  which  it  pleased  God  thus  to  permit 
no  uneasy  thought  of  hereafter  disturbed  my  mind.  (  me  to  make,  I  went  on  prosperously  for  a  season. 


Biographical  Sketch  or  Right  Rev.  John  Stark  Ravenscroft 


and  began  to  pride  myself  in  that  self-command  I  ^  Then  was  I  enabled  in  another  strength  to  commit 
seemed  to  possess.  But  my  own  weakness  was  ^  myself  unto  his  way.  From  that  moment  my  be- 
yet  to  be  showed  me,  and  when  temptation  again  ^  setting  sin  of  profane  swearing  was  overcome,  and 
assailed  me,  all  my  boasted  self  command  was  but )  to  this  moment  has  troubled  me  no  more.  But  much 
as  a  rush  against  the  wall,  I  surrandered  to  pas-  ^  was  yet  to  be  done,  which  the  same  gracious  friend 
sion,  and  from  passion  to  blasphemy.  When  I  v  of  poor  sinners  continued  to  supply  ;  and  to  lead  me 
came  to  reflect  upon  this,  then  it  was  that,  for  the  J  step  by  step,  to  proclaim  his  saving  name,  and  de- 
first  time  in  my  life,  I  was  sensible  of  something  /  clare  his  mighty  power  openly  to  the  world, 
like  concern— some  consciousness  of  wrong  beyond  "  lu  making  an  outward  profession  of  religion,  I 
what  was  apparent.  But  without  waiting  to  ex-  )  acted  as  multitudes,  alas,  do,  without  consideriag 
amine  farther,  I  hastily  concluded  to  exert  myself :  that  any  thing  depended  on  my  being  a  member  of 
more  heartily,  and  yet  to  eommaud  myself  tho-  ' 
roughly. 


the  Church  of  Christ,  or  that  any  diflBoulty  existed 
as  to  what  was  and  what  was  not  truly  such.  In 


"  During  these  my  endeavors,  however,  the  Scrip-  '  choosing  between  the  different  denominations  into 
tures  were  more  and  more  the  object  of  my  atten-  which  the  Christian  world  is  split  up,  I  considered 
tiou,  and  from  them  I  began  gradually  to  discover  (  nothing  more  to  be  necessary  than  agreement  in 
(what  I  was  very  loth  to  admit)  the  true  state  and  )  points  of  faith  and  practical  religion,  with  such  a 
condition  of  human  nature.  What  little  I  had  lately  |j  system  of  discipline  as  was  calculated  to  promote 
come  to  know  of  myself,  however,  and  all  that  I  /  the  peace  and  edification  of  the  society.  This  I 
knew  of  the  world,  seemed  to  rise  up  as  strong  i  thought  I  found  in  a  body  of  Christians  called  Re- 
proofs  that  the  doctrine  of  natural  depravity  vcas  i  publiean  Methodists  ;  and  influenced  in  no  small  de- 
true  Willing,  however,  to  escape  from  it,  I  resorted  ■  gree  by  personal  friendship  for  one  of  their  preach- 
to  the  subterfuge  of  too  many  among  us — that  what  ers,  Mr.  John  Robinson,  of  Charlotte  county,  my 
we  find  in  the  Scriptures  is Jiguratively  expressed,  I  wife  and  myself  took  membership  with  them.  At 
and  is,  therefore,  not  to  be  taken  in  the  strictness  J  this  time,  however,  they  had  no  church  organized 
of  the  letter.  But  my  own  experience  was  to  be  (  within  reach  of  my  dwelling,  only  a  monthly  ap- 
the  expositor  of  the  word.  Again  and  again  were  S  pointment  for  preaching  at  one  of  the  old  Churches, 
my  self  righteous  endeavors  foiled  and  defeated,  )  eight  miles  distant. 

much  as  at  the  first ;  and  humbled  and  confounded,  \  "  It  was  not  very  long,  however,  before  this  want 
I  became  alarmed  at  what  must  be  the  issue — if  I  '  was  supplied  in  the  gathering  together  of  a  sulB- 
was  thus  to  remain  the  sport  of  passions  I  could  (  cient  number  to  constitute  a  Church  according  to 
not  command,  the  prey  of  sin  I  could  not  conquer.  their  rule,  in  which  I  was  appointed  a  lay  elder,  and 
Something  like  prayer  would  flow  from  my  lips,  but  '  labored  for  the  benefit  of  the  members  by  meeting 
it  was  the  prayer  of  a  heart  that  yet  knew  not  |  them  on  the  vacant  Sundays,  and  reading  to  them 
aright  its  own  plague.  One  more  eflbrt  was  to  be  (  such  printed  discourses  as  I  thought  calculated  to 
made,  and  with  great  circumspection  did  I  watch  ^  instruct  and  impress  them;  and  these  meetings 
over  myself  for  some  weeks.  Still  did  I  continue,  i'  were  well  attended,  considering  the  prevalent  delu- 
however,  my  search  in  and  meditation  upon  the  ^  sion  on  the  subject  of  preaching,  and  the  wide  and 
Scriptures:  and  here  it  was  that  I  Ibuud  the  benefit  I  deep  objection  to  prepared  sermons, 
my  early  acquaintance  with  them.  I  had  not  to  ^  "When  I  had  been  engaged  in  this  way  about 
look  afar  ofl'  for  their  doctrines,  they  were  familiar  (  three  years,  inci-easing  in  knowledge  myself,  as  I 


to  my  memory  from  a  child ;  I  had  known  them  thus 
far,  though  now  it  was  that  their  living  pi-oof  was 
to  be  experienced.  The  whole,  I  believe,  was  to 
be  made  to  depend  on  my  acquiescence  in  the  turn- 
ing point  of  all  religion — that  we  are  lost  and  un- 
done, spiritually  dead  and  helpless  in  ourselves — 
and  so  I  found  it. 

"Again  and  dreadfully  did  I  fall  from  my  own 
steadfastness — temptation  like  a  mighty  man  thai 
sho2oteth  by  reason  of  wine,  swept  my  strength  be- 
fore it,  carried  away  my  resolutions  as  Sampson  did 
the  gates  of  Gaza.  I  retui-ned  to  tlie  house  con- 
vinced of  my  own  helplessness,  of  my  native  de- 
pravity, and  that  to  spiritual  things  I  was  incompe- 
tent. I  now  found  of  a  truth  that  in  me  dwelt  no 
'.  thing.  I  threw  myself  upon  my  bed  in  my 
private  room — I  wept — I  prayed.    Then  was  show- 


endeavored  to  impart  it  to  others,  I  gradually  began 
to  be  exercised  on  the  subjectof  the  ministiy,  and 
to  entertain  the  frequently  returning  thought,  that 
I  might  be  more  useful  to  the  souls  of  my  fellow- 
sinners  than  as  I  then  was,  and  that  I  owed  it  to 
God  To  this  step,  however,  there  appeared  objec- 
ticms  insurmountable,  from  my  worldly  condition, 
and  from  my  want  of  public  qualifications.  Yet  I 
could  not  conceal  from  myself,  that  if  the  men  with 
whom  I  occasionally  associated,  and  those  of  whom 
T  had  obtained  any  acquaintance  as  ministers  of  re- 
ligion, were  qualified  to  fill  the  station,  I  was  be- 
hind none,  and  superior  to  most  of  them,  in  acquired 
knowledge,  if  not  in  Christian  attainment.  My  ob- 
jections were,  therefore,  chiefly  from  my  personal 
interests,  and  personal  accommodation,  cloaked  un- 
der the  want  of  the  necessary  qualifications  for  a 


ed  unto  me  my  folly  in  trusting  to  an  arm  of  flesh.  )  public  speakei',  and  some  obscure  views  of  the  great  'j 
Then  did  it  please  the  Lord  to  point  my  bewildered  (  responsibility  of  the  ofHce.    I  felt  that  I  dreaded  it, 
view  to  him  who  is  the  Lord  ojo-  righteousness.  I  and,  therefore,  did  not  encourage  either  the  private 


Biographical  Sketch  of  Right  Rev.  John  Stark  Ravenscroft.  165 


exercises  of  my  own  miud,  or  the  open  intimations 
of  my  brethren.  Yet  I  could  not  escape  from  the 
often  returning  meditation  of  the  spiritual  wants  of  , 
all  around  me,  of  the  never  to  be  paid  obligation  I 
was  under  to  the  divine  mercy,  and  of  the  duty  I 
owed  to  give  myself  in  any  and  in  every  way  to 
,  God's  disposal. 

"  Of  this  I  entertained  no  dispute  ;  yet  the  toils 
and  privations,  the  sacrifices  of  worldly  interest,  and 
the  contempt  for  the  calling  itself  manifested  by  the 
wealthier  and  better  informed  classes  of  society, 
which  I  once  felt  myself,  and  now  witnessed  in 
others,  were  a  severe  stumbling-block ;  and  I  was 
willing  to  resort  to  any  subterfuge  to  escape  en- 
countering it.  Yet  I  would  sometimes  think,  that 
a  great  part  of  this  was  more  owing  to  the  men  than 
to  the  office." 


Thus  abruptly  terminates  this  interesting  narra- 
tive, to  the  composition  of  which  Mr.  Ravenscroft 
devoted  the  intervals  of  strength  and  leisure  that 
he  enjoyed  during  his  last  illness.  Among  the  me- 
moranda to  which  he  referred  in  the  prepai-ation  of 
it,  is  found  one  written  by  himself,  in  the  year  1819, 
which  is  here  subjoined,  as  a  continuation  of  the 
history  of  his  motives  and  views  in  entering  the 
ministry  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  and 
the  causes  of  his  dissatisfaction  with  the  commu- 
nion to  which  he  had  first  attached  himself. 

"  In  the  year  1815,  being  much  exercised  on  the 
subject  of  the  ministry,  and  believing  myself  called 
to  a  public  station  in  the  Church,  as  well  as  pressed 
by  the  solicitations  ofmy  brethren,  I  began  to  revolve 
the  question  of  orders  in  my  mind,  and  to  seek  for 
information  on  a  subject  which  I  felt  was  of  the  last 
consequence  to  my  comfort,  and  I  may  say  useful- 
ness as  a  minister  of  Christ,  viz.  the  authority  by 
which  I  should  be. commissioned  to  perform  the  du- 
ties of  the  ministry.  To  rest  it  upon  the  assurance 
I  felt,  that  I  was  called  of  God  to  the  work,  was 
personal  to  myself,  but  could  not  weigh  with  others 
beyond  my  own  opinion ;  and  something  more  than 
that  was  essential  to  prevent  me  from  feeling  my- 
self an  intruder  into  the  sacred  office. 

"  On  mentioning  my  difficulty  to  the  pastor  of  the 
congregation  to  which  I  belonged,  an  able  and  sen- 
sible, though  not  a  learned  man,  I  found  that  it  was 
a  question  he  could  not  entertain,  being,  like  Dis- 
senters in  general,  little  if  at  all  impressed  with 
the  importance  (not  to  themselves  alone,  but  to 
those  under  their  charge,)  of  valid  and  authorized 
ministrations  in  the  Church.  Being  thus  left  to  my 
own  resources,  and  the  word  of  God,  I  became  fully 
convinced  that  the  awful  deposit  of  the  Word,  by 
which  we  shall  all  be  judged,  could  never  be  thrown 
out  into  the  world  to  be  scrambled  for,  and  picked 
up  by  whosoever  pleased  to  take  hold  of  it ;  and 
though  this  objection  might  in  some  sort  be  met  by 


the  manifestation  of  an  internal  call,  yet  as  that  in- 
ternal call  could  not  now  be  demonstrated  to  others, 
something  more  was  needed,  which  could  only  be 
found  in  the  outward  delegation  of  authority,  from 
that  source  to  which  it  was  originally  committed. 
Of  the  necessity  of  this  verifiable  authority  to  the 
comfort  and  assurance  of  Christians  in  the  present 
day,  the  Sacrament  of  Baptism  presented  itself  to 
me  as  demonstrative  truth.  Being  the  only  possi- 
ble mode  by  which  fallen  creatures  can  become  in- 
terested in  the  covenant  of  grace,  and  entitled  to 
the  benefit  of  Chri»t's  gracious  undertaking  for  the 
salvation  of  sinners,  it  must  be  of  the  last  import- 
ance to  parents  and  children  to  be  satisfied  and 
assured  that  such  unspeakable  blessings  should  be 
authoritatively  conveyed.  And  as  the  authority  of  ] 
Christ  is  the  very  essence  of  Baptism,  in  the  as-  « 
surance  of  its  pledges  to  those  to  whom  it  is  admin- 
istered, and  as  this  assurance  can  only  be  such  by 
the  verification  of  the  requisite  power  rnd  authority 
to  administer  the  rite,  it  appeared  clear  to  me,  that 
no  assumption  of  that  power  by  any  man,  or  body 
of  men,  neither  any  consequent  delegation  of  it, 
could  by  any  possibility  answer  the  intention  and 
purpose  of  the  Author  and  Finisher  of  our  faith,  in 
making  Baptism  the  door  of  admission  into  bis 
Charch, 

"  In  this  view  of  the  subject,  I  was  compelled  to 
lay  before  the  district  meeting  of  the  Republican 
Methodist  Church,  so  called,  my  reasons  for  requir- 
ing an  authority  to  minister  in  the  Church  of  Christ, 
which  they  had  not  to  give,  and  to  request  a  letter 
of  dismission  from  their  communion.  This  was 
granted  me  by  the  congregation  of  which  I  was  a 
member,  in  the  most  friendly  and  affectionate  man- 
ner. The  other  dissenting  denominations  among  us 
I  found  in  the  same  situation  ;  all  of  them,  accord- 
ing to  my  view,  acting  upon  usurped  authority  ; 
thoucrh  I  paused  a  while  on  the  Presbyterian  claim 
to  apostolic  succession — but  as  that  claim  could 
date  no  farther  back  than  the  era  of  the  Reforma- 
tion, and  in  its  first  lines  labors  under  the  dispute 
whether  it  has  actually  the  authority  which  mere 
Presbyters  can  bestow,  (for  it  does  not  appear  satis- 
factorily that  Calvin  ever  had  orders  of  any  kind,) 
I  had  to  tui-n  my  attention  to  the  Protestant  Epis- 
copal Charch  for  that  deposit  of  apostolical  sxrcces- 
sion,  in  which  alone  verifiable  power  to  minister  in 
sacred  things  was  to  be  found  in  these  United 
States.  •   ,     .J       "  • 

"  I  presented  myself  accordingly  to  Bishop  Moore, 
in  the  city  of  Richmond,  together  with  my  creden- 
tials, and  was  by  him  received  as  a  candidate  for 
holy  orders.  The  canons  of  the  Church  requiring 
that  persons  applying  for  orders  shall  have  their 
names  inscribed  in  the  books,  as  candidates  for  one 
year  previous  to  their  oi'dination,  I  was  furnished 
by  Bishop  Moore  with  letters  of  licence  as  a  lay- 
reader  in  the  Church,  which  are  dated  the  17th  of 
Febraary,  1816.  Having  labored  during  the  year  in 
the  parishes  of  Cumberland,  in  Lunenburg  county, 


and  of  St.  James,  in  the  county  of  Mecklenburg, 
with  acceptance,  and,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  with 
effect,  particularly  in  St.  James'  parish,  I  was  most 
earnestly  invited  to  take  charge  of  the  latter  con- 
gi-egation,  as  their  minister.  This  invitation  I  ac 
cepted  ;  and  having  received  the  uecessaiy  testi- 
monials from  the  Standing  Committee  of  the  Dio- 
cese, and  passed  the  requisite  trials,  I  was  admitted 
to  the  office  of  Deacon  in  the  Church,  on  Friday, 
the  25th  day  of  April,  1817,  in  the  Monumental 
Church,  in  the  city  of  Richmond  ;  and  for  reasons 
satisfactory  to  the  Bishop  and  Standing  Committee 
of  the  Diocese,  by  virtue  of  the  canon  in  such  case 
made  and  provided,  I  was  admitted  to  the  order  of 
Priest ;  and  ordained  thereto  in  the  Church  in  the 
town  of  Fredericksburg,  on  Tuesday,  the  6th  day 
of  May  following,  during  the  session  of  the  Conven- 
tion in  that  place.  On  returning  to  my  parish, 
deeply  impressed  with  the  awful  commission  in- 
trusted to  me,  and  with  the  laborious  task  of  rescu- 
ing from  inveterate  prejudice  the  docti-ines,  disci- 
pline, and  worship  of  the  Church,  and  of  reviving 
among  the  people  that  regard  for  it,  to  which  it  is 
truly  entitled,  I  commenced  my  ministerial  labors, 
as  the  only  real  business  I  now  had  in  life,  relying 
on  God's  mercy  and  goodness,  through  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  for  fruit  to  his  praise." 


Mr.  Ravenscroft's  character  as  a  Christian  was  ; 
fully  appreciated  by  the  little  flock  over  which  he  I 
was  now  the  overseer,  and  his  labors  as  a  minister  | 
were  attended  with  very  gratifying  success.  At  ^ 
the  time  that  he  first  connected  himself  as  a  lay-  i 
reader  with  it,  the  Liturgy  of  the  Church  was  en-  ^ 
)  tirely  unknown,  except  in  one  family  ;  and  in  fifteen  / 
months  afterwards  he  had  a  large  congregation  of 
"attentive  hearers  and  devout  worshippers,"  who  i 
erected  for  their  use  a  commodious  place  of  public  , 


worship.    To  some,  however,  his  preaching  was 


very  offensive,  and  brought  upon  him  that  reproach 
to  which  the  faithful  minister  of  Christ  has  been  ,' 
liable  in  every  period  of  the  world.  To  the  rich  \ 
and  worldly-mitided,  especially,  to  whom  he  had  ' 
been  so  long  allied  in  feeling  and  in  practice,  he  }^ 
now  addressed  his  most  heart-searching  appeals,  ^ 
and  familiar  as  he  was  with  all  their  shifts  and  eva- ) 
sions,  he  exposed  them  to  themselves  with  a  fidel-  I 
ity  and  truth  of  coloring  wliich  they  could  not  tole-  ; 
rate.  Preaching  of  this  kind,  which  they  knew  not ) 
'  how  to  resist,  they  afl'ected  to  despise,  and  this  ( 
faithful  minister,  though  never  deteiTed  for  a  mo-  ) 
ment  from  revealing  the  whole  of  God's  will,  was  ^ 
much  and  often  grieved  at  the  deadness  and  cold-  { 
ness  of  this  class  of  his  hearers.  To  those,  too,  ^ 
from  whom  he  differed  in  opinion  respecting  the  ( 
constitution  of  the  Church,  he  often  gave  serious  ( 
offence  ;  and  in  one  of  the  congregations  which  he  ) 


and  decision  of  character,  he  'pursued  the  tenor  of 
his  way,  alike  undismayed  by  the  reproaches  of  his 
adversaries,  and  unchanged  by  the  admiration  of 
his  friends.  He  seems  to  have  been  actuated  by 
an  unbounded  sense  of  God's  mercy  towards  him- 
self, and  to  have  thought  the  dedication  to  his  ser- 
vice of  all  the  energies  of  his  body  and  mind,  far 
from  being  an  adequate  acknowledgement  of  the 
divine  bounty :  doubtless  the  recollection  of  the 
many  years,  during  which  his  talent  had  been 
buried,  added  to  his  diligence  in  preparing  for  the 
coming  of  his  Lord. 

Having  lost  his  first  wife  in  the  year  1814,  Mr. 
Ravenscroft  was  married  to  his  second  wife  in  the 
year  1818.  This  lady,  to  whom  he  was  ever  a  most 
affectionate  husband,  and  whose  consistent  Chris- 
tian character  was  at  once  a  comfort  and  an  aid  to 
him  during  their  union,  was  Miss  Buford,  of  Lunen- 
burg county,  the  daughter  of  one  of  his  oldest  friends. 
In  the  ensuing  winter  he  sustained  a  severe  loss 
by  fire,  having  had  his  dwelling  house,  and  all  it 
contained,  bui-nt  during  his  absence  from  home. 
This  loss,  joined  to  his  profuse  generosity,  and  pro- 
bably his  diminished  attention  to  his  secular  affairs  Jj 
after  he  entered  the  ministry,  reduced  considerably 
the  value  of  his  estate,  and  after  this  period  he  was, 
in  part,  dependent  upon  the  support  which  he  de- 
rived from  his  connection  with  his  parish. 

His  attention  to  the  duties  of  his  calling,  which  < 
he  suffered  nothing  to  divert,  was  indeed  remark- 
able. His  punctuality  as  a  minister,  for  instance, 
was  so  exact,  that  during  the  whole  time  he  offici- 
ated as  deacon  and  priest,  he  was  never  known  to 
fail  in  keeping  an  appointment.  Relying,  with  a 
confidence  which  ultimately  became  fatal,  upon  the 
vigor  and  stability  of  his  constitution,  he  set  at 
naught  all  kinds  of  weather,  while  engaged  in  du- 
ties that  called  him  from  home.  Even  when  the 
weather  was  so  inclement  that  he  would  not  permit 
his  servant,  who  acted  as  the  sexton  to  his  churches, 
to  accompany  him,  he  would  himself  take  the  keys 
and  ride  off  alone  five  or  ten  miles  to  the  regular 
place  of  worship,  without,  perhaps,  the  slightest 
expectation  of  meeting  an  individual,  and  some- 
times, as  he  used  to  express  himself,  "  would  ride 
around  the  Church  when  the  snow  was  afoot  deep, 
and  leave  his  track  as  a  testimony  against  his  peo- 
ple." This  seemingly  supererogatoiy  exposure  of 
himself  he  found  necessary  for  some  members  of  his 
congregation.  "  If,"  said  he,  "  they  could  say  with 
any  sort  of  plausibility — the  weather  is  bad  to-day, 
and  Mr.  Ravenscroft  will  not  turn  out,  the  conse- 
quence would  be  that  the  slightest  inclemency 
would  avail  them  as  an  excuse  for  staying  at  home  ; 
but  I  put  a  stop  to  all  such  evasions,  by  being  al- 
ways at  Church,  let  the  weather  be  what  it  may, 
and  they  can  always  calculate  with  certainty  upon 
meeting  me  if  they  choose  to  turn  out  themselves." 


served  he  met  from  this  source  with  many  painful  j  In  the  year  1823,  Mr.  Ravenscroft  received  an 
>  impediments.    But  with  a  remarkable  self  devotion    invitation  to  take  charge  of  the  large  and  flourish- 


Biographical  Sketch  of  Right  Rev.  John  Stark  Ravenscroft.  167 


f 

ing  congregation  at  Norfolk.  Not  conceiving  that 
any  call  of  duty  accompanied  this  invitation,  he 
promptly  declined  it,  "  as  nothing  in  the  shape  of 
emolument  could  move  .him  from  where  he  was,  and 
induce  him  to  sacrifice  his  predilections  and  attach- 
ment to  his  own  little  flock  "  Shortly  afterwards, 
however,  he  received  a  call  from  the  vestry  of  the 
Monumental  Church,  in  Richmond,  to  be  the  assist- 
ant to  the  venerable  Bishop  Moore,  who  had  charge 
of  that  congregation.  Regarding  the  services  of 
the  Bishop,  which  were  seriously  interrupted  and 
hindered  by  his  large  parochial  charge,  as  too  vala- 

^  ^ble  to  the  diocese  to  be  lost  tlirough  any  impedi- 
ment opposed  by  his  private  inclinations,  Mr.  Rav- 
enscroft was  prepai-iug  to  yield  to  what  he  consid- 
ered as  an  imperative  call  of  duty,  and  to  accept 
this  invitation — when  a  call  of  a  yet  more  impera- 
tive nature  reached  him  from  another  quarter,  which  ) 
his  conscience,  that  great  master-sijring  to  all  his  ( 
actions,  at  once  forbade  him  to  reject.  ) 

The  Church  in  North  Carolina  had  shared  the  ( 
same  fate,  during  the  Revolutionary  war,  that  had  ) 
involved  all  other  portions  of  it  in  this  country  in  so  } 
much  gloom  and  depression.  The  violent  preju-  \ 
dices — to  the  injustice  of  which  it  is  hardly  neces- ) 
sary  now  to  recur — which  had  brought  odium  and  ( 
persecution  upon  its  ministers  elsewhere,  existed  i 

'  here  in  their  full  vigor.  The  effect,  indeed,  of  these  / 
prejudices  seems  to  have  been  more  remarkable  J 
in  Nortli  Carolina  than  any  where  else.  The  cry  of 
"Down  with  it,  down  with  it  even  to  the  ground," 
accomplished  the  wishes  of  the  enemies  of  the 
Church ;  and  long  after  Zion  had  arisen  from  the 
dust,  and  put  on  her  beautiful  garments,  in  other 
portions  of  her  borders,  her  children  here  had  still 
to  weep  when  they  remembered  her. 

It  was  not  until  the  year  1817,  that  the  three  cler- 
gymen who  had  but  recently  been  called  to  the 
towns  of  Fayetteville,  Wilmington,  and  Newbern, 
encouraged  by  some  influential  laymen  in  the  two  |J 
first  mentioned  towns,  proposed  a  convention  for  the  ) 
purpose  of  organizing  the  Church  in  this  State.    A  ( 
Convention  was  accordingly  held  in  Newbern,  in ) 
the  month  of  June  of  that  year,  attended  by  three 
clergymen  and  six  or  eight  lay  delegates  ;  when  a  J 
constitution  was  adopted,  and  an  address  made  to/ 
the  friends  of  the  Church  throughout  the  State,  pro-  ( 
posing  a  second  convention  in  the  ensuing  year. 
Tbis  second  Convention  was  more  numerously  at- 
tended than  the  former,  and  the  Church  from  that 
time  continued  rapidly  to  increase— or,  to  speak , 
more  properly,  perhaps — to  revive  from  her  iong  and  ( 
deadly  torpoi-.  ( 
Under  the  patriarchal  supervision  of  the  venera-  ( 
ble  Bishop  of  Virginia,  who  was  invited  by  the  Con- 
vention  to  take  episcopal  charge  of  the  diocese,  this  I 
increase  assumed  a  stable  and  progressive  charac-  ( 
ter,  and  within  six  years  from  the  time  of  the  first' 
Convention,  there  were  twenty-five  congregations  i 
attached  to  the  Church.    This  numerical  force,  how-  ^ 
ever,  exhibits  rather  an  exaggerated  view  of  the  t 


real  condition  of  the  diocese.  Some  well-meaning 
but  injudicious  missionaries,  under  the  influence  of 
that  fervor  of  feeling  usually  attendant  upon  a  state 
of  prosperity,  had  formed  nominal  congregations 
where  there  were  in  fact  very  few  or  no  Episcopa- 
lians. Bishop  Moore's  engagements  in  Virginia, 
both  to  the  diocese  and  to  his  parish,  never  allowed 
him  time  to  visit  these  congregations,  and  discover 
their  actual  condition ;  and  after  remaining  some 
time  unfruitful  branches  of  the  main  stock,  and  ap- 
pearing from  a  distance  to  add  to  its  strength,  they 
at  length  withered  and  fell  off,  from  the  want  of  that 
vital  principle  which  they  had  never  possessed. 
And  even  in  the  more  established  and  better  in- 
formed congregations,  there  were  many  individuals 
who  had  attached  themselves  to  the  Church  from 
motives  entirely  distinct  from  a  discerning  and  ra- 
tional preference  for  her  peculiar  character.  Hered- 
itary predilections,  convenience,  and  accidental  cir- 
cumstauces,  afforded  a  suiBeient  motive  with  many  ; 
while  comparatively  few  had  been  led  to  a  candid 
examination,  and  a  consequent  acknowledgement 
of  her  distinctive  claims. 

The  number  of  clergymen  was  small,  in  propor- 
tion to  the  extent  of  country  over  which  the  friends 
of  the  Church  were  scattered  ;  and  even  of  that 
small  number,  there  were  some  who,  acting  under 
that  notion  of  charity  which  teaches  us  to  shrink 
from  the  search  of  truth,  lest,  when  found,  it  should 
show  our  neighbor  to  be  in  error,  avoided  the  urging 
of  claims  which  were  unpalatable  to  so  many. 

These  spots  of  unsoundness  in  a  body  otherwise 
healthy  and  vigorous,  evidently  required  excision  ; 
and  the  more  intelligent  friends  of  the  Church  began 
to  look  around  for  some  more  skilful  and  steady  « 
hand  to  whicli  the  operation  should  be  intrusted. 
The  peculiar  state  of  feeling  engendered  by  the  ex. 
istcnce  of  these  loose  opinions,  both  in  the  members 
of  the  Church  themselves,  and  in  others,  obviously 
demanded  that  the  agent  of  reform  should  possess  < 
nerve,  as  well  as  skill,  and  not  be  deterred  from  his 
duty,  either  by  the  i-eproaches  of  the  looker-on,  or 
by  the  timidity  and  alarms  of  the  patient.  The 
character  of  Mr.  Ravenscroft,  (for  he  was  at  this 
time  personally  known  to  but  one  clergyman  in  the  ' 
diocese,)  as  exemplified  by  the  manner  and  success 
of  his  preaching,  appeared  to  be  happily  adapted  to 
this  emergency.  Ardent  iu  his  personal  piety, 
zealous  in  preaching  the  Gospel  in  its  utmost  purity, 
disinterested  in  all  his  aims,  and  possessing  in  no 
ordinary  degree  talents  for  pulpit  and  pastoral  use- 
fulness, it  was  believed  that  the  uncompromising 
firmness  with  which  he  held  and  preached  the  whole 
of  God's  revealed  will,  would  at  least  receive  the 
meed  of  praise  for  sincerity  and  single-heartedness, 
even  from  his  opponents  ;  while  the  sheep  of  his 
own  fold  would  be  reclaimed  from  those  mazes  of 
error  and  ignorance  into  which  other  shepherds 
might  not  have  had  the  hardihood  to  follow  them. 
This  view  of  Mr.  Ravenscroft's  fitness  for  the  sta 
tion  operating  upon  the  leading  members  of  the 


168        Biographical  Sketch  or  Right  Ret.  John  Stark  Ravenscroft. 


Convention  of  1823,  and  a  high  respect  for  his  char- 
acter as  a  Christian  and  a  minister,  influencing 
others,  he  vi^as  unanimously  elected  Bishop  of  the 
diocese  of  North  Carolina,  at  a  Convention  held  in 
Salisbury,  and  attended  by  all  the  clergy  and  an 
unusually  full  delegation  of  laymen.  He  did  not 
hesitate  in  accepting  a  call  which  he  regarded  as 
being  in  a  peculiar  manner  a  providential  one. 
Personally  known  to  scarcely  an  individual  of  the 
Convention  which  had  unanimously  elected  him 
Bishop,  it  seemed  to  him  "  as  if  the  hand  of  Provi- 
dence was  in  it ;"  and  though  the  same  distrust  of 
himself,  that  had  awakened  in  him  so  many  doubts 
respecting  his  fitness  for  the  ministry  at  all,  yet 
operated  in  making  him  lay  aside  all  self-reliance, 
the  same  submission  to  the  leadings  of  his  great 
Master,  and  the  same  confiding  ti'ust  in  his  sustain- 
ing grace,  made  him  determine  at  once  to  follow 
the  difficult  path  now  opened  to  him.  His  election 
having  preceded  the  sitting  of  the  General  Conven- 
tion but  a  few  weeks,  he  was  furnished  with  the 
requisite  testimonial  to  be  laid  before  that  body 
preparatory  to  his  consecration,  and  accordingly  re- 
ceived his  high  commission,  in  the  city  of  Philadel- 
phia, on  the  22d  day  of  April,  1823,  at  the  hands  of 
of  the  venerable  Bishop  White,  Bishops  Griswold, 
Kemp,  Croes,  Bowen,  and  Brownell,  being  also 
present,  and  assisting. 

The  pecuniary  ability  of  the  Church  in  North  Ca- 
rolina being  but  limited,  the  Convention  in  ofifering 
what  they  were  able  to  give,  allowed  Mr.  Ravens- 
croft the  privilege  of  devoting  one-half  of  his  time 
to  the  service  of  a  parish,  so  that  the  conjoined 
means  of  the  Diocese  and  the  parish  might  afford  a 
decent  and  adequate  income.  The  neglect  of  his 
private  affairs,  which  has  already  been  hinted  at, 
proceeding  from  Mr.  Ravenscroft's  engrossing  at- 
tention to  his  ministerial  duties,  added  to  some 
losses  sustained  by  him  as  surety  for  others,  had 
now  reduced  his  once  ample  means  so  much,  that 
he  was  obliged  to  avail  himself  of  this  privilege ; 
and  the  congregation  at  Raleigh  inviting  him  to 
take  the  pastoral  charge  of  them,  he  consented  to 
do  so,  and  immediately  upon  his  return  from  Phila- 
delphia, began  his  preparations  for  removal.  Know  - 
ing,  however,  how  urgent  the  wants  of  the  Church 
were,  he  did  not  wait  for  the  completion  of  his  pre- 
parations, but  set  out  on  his  first  Episcopal  tour  in 
June,  within  one  month  after  his  consecration.  It 
would  extend  this  memoir  to  an  undue  length  to 
enter  into  a  minute  narration  of  Bishop  Ravens- 
croft's movem.ents  in  this,  or  indeed,  in  any  of  his 
subsequent  visitations  ;  it  is  designed  only  to  give 
such  occasional  extracts  from  his  private  journal 
and  correspondence,  as  are  either  instructive  in 
point  of  doctrine,  or  more  than  ordinarily  interest- 
ing in  point  of  fact. 

One  of  Bishop  Ravenscroft's  earliest  endeavors 
after  assuming  the  care  of  his  Diocese,  was  to  im- 
press upon  both  his  clergy  and  the  people  of  their 


S  charge,  a  proper  estimation  of  the  sacrament  of 
)  Baptism  and  its  corisequent,  the  apostolic  rite  of 
(  confirmation.  These  he  regarded  as  the  threshold 
j  of  the  Church,  and  when  duly  administered  and 
I  worthily  received,  would  guard  the  body  of  the 
Church  from  the  intrusion  of  the  unprepared.  "  I 
consider,''  says  he,  in  a  letter  to  one  of  his  clergy, 
"  in  general  terms,  Confirmation  equivalent  to  a 
profession  of  religion  on  conviction  and  experience." 
And  to  another  he  says,  "  from  the  nature  of  things, 
it  is  impossible  that  I  can  have  any  knowledge  of 
the  qualifications  of  the  persons  who  off'er  them- 
selves for  Confirmation.  I  must  therefore  depend 
entirely  upon  your  diligence  in  preparing,  and  faith- 
fulness in  presenting  those  only  of  your  charge  who 
have  a  just  view  of  the  rite,  and  are  properly  im- 
pressed with  the  obligations  growing  out  of  it,  and 
the  benefits  to  be  derived  from  it.  Much  obloquy 
has  heretofore  grown  out  of  the  easiness  with  which 
candidates  far  confirmation  have  been  presented  and 
received  by  the  Church,  and  occasion  has  thence 
been  taken  against  us  by  our  opponents.  This  I 
feel  extremely  anxious  to  avoid,  and  as  no  lax 
habits  in  this  i-espect  have  yet  obtained  in  the 
Diocese,  so  to  commence  and  continne  by  the  bles- 
sing of  God,  that  they  may  be  prevented  from 
creeping  in."  His  views  on  Baptism  have  been 
ah-eady  given  at  lai'ge,  and  need  not  be  here  re- 
peated. 

During  his  first  visitation,  and  in  the  interval 
occurring  between  it  and  the  ensuing  Convention, 
the  Bishop  discovered  in  its  full  extent  the  actual 
condition  of  the  Church,  as  it  has  already  been 
described.  He  saw,  that  as  a  faithful  overseer,  it 
was  his  duty,  however  painful  it  might  be  to  him- 
self, and  however  offensive  to  others,  to  correct  the 
mistakes  iisto  which  so  many  of  his  flock  had  fallen 
— to  apprise  them  of  the  duties  resulting  from  their 
connection  with  a  Church  which  was  founded  upon 
the  primitive  model,  and  to  open  their  eyes  to  that 
delusive  notion  of  chanty,  which,  in  its  natural 
consequences,  must  eventually  lead  to  the  ackuow 
lodgment  of  all  error.  He  accordingly  opened  the 
deliberations  of  the  first  Convention  after  his  con- 
seeration  with  a  sermon  containing  his  views  and 
opinions  regarding  the  Church,  and  the  most  efficient 
means  of  promoting  its  increase  and  prosperity,  and 
unreservedly  communicating  the  details  of  the 
course  which  he,  as  its  guardian  and  Bishop,  meaiit 
to  pursue. 

The  fatigue  and  exposure  incident  to  the  situation 
in  which  the  Bishop  was  now  placed,  added  to  the 
anxiety  of  mind  necessarily  attending  it,  began 
very  soon  to  make  an  impression  upon  his  once 
robust  frame  and  vigorous  constitution,  and  during 
the  whole  of  the  second  winter  after  his  removal  to 
North  Carolina,  he  was  confined  by  illness.  Be- 
sides "  the  care  of  all  the  Churches,"  which,  to  a 
mind  so  solicitous  as  his,  respecting  every  thing 
that  concerned  their  well  being,  was  a  source  of 


Biographical  Sketch  of  Right  Rev.  John  Stark  Ravenscroft. 


169 


constant  and  con'oding  anxiety,  the  mere  physical 
labor  of  his  annual  visitations  was  very  great.  The 
farthest  westera  congregation  vs^as  more  than  three 
hundred  miles  distant  from  the  most  eastern  one, 


1828,  to  give  up  the  pastoral  charge  of  the  congre- 
gation at  Raleigh,  which,  under  his  fostering  care 
had  grown  into  an  importance  w.hich  required  more 
active  and  uninterrupted  service  than  his  declining 
health  and  engagements  to  the  diocese  permitted 
empire  in  his  enfeebled  frame,  he  punctually  and  (  him  to  bestow.  The  large  congregations  of  Newborn 
resolutely  made  his  yearly  visits  to  both,  and  it  was  j  and  Wilmington  were  both  desirous  of  procuring 
not  until  he  became  utterly  incapable  of  travelling,  )  his  valuable  pastoral  services,  iuteiTupted  and' 
a  short  time  previously  to  his  death,  that  he  discon-  \  hindered  as  they  were  ;  and  accordingly  at  this 


and  yet,  long  after  disease  had  established  its 


tinned  them.     United  to  these  labors  were  his 
laborious  and  zealous  services  to  his  congregation 
at  Raleigh  as  a  parish  priest,  occupying  the  whole 
of  his  time  not  devoted  to  his  active  Episcopal  ' 
duties. 

But  even  his  hours  of  sickness  and  confinement 
were  not  hours  of  idleness.    Just  before  his  first 
illness  he  had  been  invited  to  preach  before  the 
Bible  Society  at  its  annual  meeting,  in  December, 
at  the  city  of  Raleigh,  although  he  had  openly 
expressed  his  disapprobation  of  one  feature  in  the 
constitution  of  the  society.    Availing  himself  of  the  | 
occasion,  he  explained  his  objections,  and  gave  in  , 
general  his  views  of  the  proper  principle  upon 
which  Bible  Societies  shonld  be  founded  to  be  most  ' 
efficient  in  their  operations.    This  sermon  having  , 
been  published,  elicited  very  severe  animadversions 
from  various  quarters,  and  eventually  attracted  the 


time  he  received  from  each  of  those  congregations 
an  invitation  to  become  its  pastor,  but  he  ultimately 
selected  the  village  of  Williamsborough,  to  which 
he  had  been  also  invited,  as  his  future  residence. 
The  congregation  there  was  small,  and  having  never 
•had  the  benefit  of  regular  services,  he  thought  it 
better  able  to  withstand  the  injurious  effects  of 
interrupted  ministrations. 

It  pleased  God  about  this  time  to  deprive  Bishop 
Ravenscroft  of  the  whole  of  his  worldly  substance, 
by  that  means  which  had  become  so  general  in  this 
country.  The  same  benevolent  disposition  which 
prompted  him  to  dedicate  his  life  so  zealously  to 
the  service  of  his  fellow  creatures,  had  induced  him 
at  various  times  to  become  the  security  for  others 
in  pecuniary  transactions,  and  the  issue  was  his 
utter  rain.  The  details  of  this  unfortunate  business 
it  is  not  necessaiy  to  relate.    Suffice  it  to  say,  that 


notice  of  a  celebrated  professor  of  theology  in  |  he  met  with  kind  friends,  and  in  his  own  bosom 
Virginia.  That  gentleman  in  his  strictures  upon  (  found  a  source  of  comfort  which  made  him  rise 
the  sermon,  and  the  publications  arising  out.  of  it,  )  superior  to  his  misfortunes,  and,  like  the  courser 
having  assailed  the  Church  of  which  Bishop  /  that  has  shaken  off  his  encumbrances,  to  run  his 
Ravenscroft  was  a  member  and  a  minister,  the  (  race  with  renovated  speed  and  vigor. 


Bishop  felt  himself  imperiously  called  upon  to 
stand  forth  to  vindicate  it  from  his  aspersions. 
Though  worn  by  a  severe  and  protracted  illness, 
the  result  of  his  labors  was  a  masterly  and  trium- 
phant vindication  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Church. 
This  able  controversial  tract  will  be  found  alike 
valuable  to  the  learned  churchman  and  to  the  un- 
learned Christian;  to  the  former,  as  a  clear  and 


One  earthly  tie  yet  i-emained  to  bim,  besides  his 
connection  with  and  attachment  to  the  Church,  and 
that  also  it  pleased  God  to  sever.  Soon  after  his 
removal  to  Williamsborough,  thehealth  ofhis  wife, 
which  had  been  for  some  time  feeble,  began  rapidly 
to  decline,  and  in  January,  1829,  her  sickness  and 
suiferings  terminated  in  death.  A  life  spent  in  the 
diligent  discharge  of  the  various  duties  belonging 


comprehensive  summary  of  the  learned  labors  of  )  to  her  station,  was  closed  by  a  death  full  of  the  hope 


the  fathers,  and  the  brightest  luminaries  of  the 
Church;  to  the  latter,  as  a  plain  and  irrefragable 
argument,  establishing  the  divine  authenticity  of 
those  ministrations  upon  which  he  relies  as  means 
for  his  spiritual  sustenance. 

The  Bishop's  health  was  never  perfectly  reno- 
vated after  this  first  severe  attack,  but  his  consti- 


of  immortality,  and  it  was  a  source  of  great  comfort 
to  her  husband,  that  daring  the  last  stages  of  her 
illness,  not  one  cloud  of  doubt  obscured  the  bright- 
ness of  her  heavenly  prospect,  and  that  (to  use  his 
own  language)  "  there  was  not  even  a  distorted 
feature  in  the  agonies  of  death,  to  betray  any 
quailing  before  the  king  of  terrors."  The  severance 


tution,  originally  hardy  and  vigorous,  frequently  (  of  this  last  earthly  bond  was  to  the  Bishop  a  severe 
rallied  and  restored  him  to  his  usual  activity  ;  the  )  trial.  Besides  losing  an  affectionate  friend  and  a 
dedication  of  which  intervals  to  his  Episcopal  )  faithful  counsellor  in  his  wife,  the  precarious  and 
labors  would  in  turn  reduce  him  for  a  time  to  sick-  (  delicate  state  of  his  own  health  made  him  pecu- 
ness  and  confinement.    The  last  three  or  four  years  j  liarly  sensitive  to  the  loss  of  a  gentle  and  tender 


of  his  life  consisted  almost  wholly  of  these  alterna- 
j  tions  of  sufl'ering  sickness  at  home  and  active 
>  industry  abroad. 


companion  and  nurse.    But  even  this  severe  chas- 
tisement was  not  to  him  without  its  mitigations. 
The  poverty  to  which  he  wr.s  reduced  in  his  old  age, 
)  (had  only  affected  him  as  it  rendered  it  probable  that 

his  early  death,  to  which  he  already  began  to  look 
forward,  would  leave  Mrs.  Ravenscroft  in  want. 
The  increasing  infirmities  of  the  Bishop  made  it  \  The  removal  of  this  apprehension  by  the  death  of 
necessary  for  him,  m  the  beginning  of  the  year  (  his  wife,  though  it  might  render  the  evening  of  his 


days  lonely  and  irksome,  at  once  released  him 
from  all  earthly  anxieties ;  and  in  speaking  of  his 
loss,  this  thought,  next  to  the  consolations  of  relig- 
ion, seemed  to  have  been  uppermost. 

The  convention  of  1829,  sensible  of  the  increas- 
ing infirmities  of  Bishop  Ravenscroft,  and  of  the 
great  necessity  of  relieving  him  of  a  portion  of  his 
laborious  duties,  determined  to  release  him  from 
all  parochial  charge-  Notwithstanding  his  declin- 
ing health  and  strength,  his  devotion  to  both  his 
diocese  and  parish  had  continued  unremitted.  Often 
during  his  visitations  he  would  spend  one  day  on  a 
sick  bed,  and  the  succeeding  in  preaching  with  his 
usual  force  and  zeal,  or  in  travelling  from  the  place 
of  one  appointment  to  that  of  another;  and  while, 
at  home,  he  never  permitted  a  Sunday  to  pass  with- 
out occupying  his  pulpit.  This  double  labor  was 
obviously  too  much  for  his  reduced  strength  and 
health,  and  the  convention,  notwithstanding  the 
slender  means  of  the  diocese,  increased  his  salary 
so  as  to  make  it  adequate  to  his  support  independ- 
ently of  any  pai'ochial  contribution.  But  the  relief 
came  too  late.  The  visitation  immediately  preced- 
ing this  convention,  was  the  last  he  was  ever  per- 
mitted to  make  to  the  diocese,  which  owed  so  much 
to  his  zealous  and  faithful  labors.  After  the  ad- 
journment of  the  convention,  he  visited  the  newly 
formed  dioceses  of  Tennessee  and  Kentucky,  and 
from  thence  went  to  Philadelphia  to  attend  the  sit- 
ting of  the  general  convention  in  that  city.  This 
long  journey,  which  he  was  induced  to  take  at  the 
urgent  solicitations  of  the  Tennessee  clergy,  and 
perhaps  by  the  expectation  that  it  might  benefit  his 
health,  he  performed  in  the  public  stages  and  steam- 
boats, travelling  more  than  a  thousand  miles  over  a 
rough  and  mountainous  counti'y  in  the  former  mode 
of  conveyance.  When  the  general  convention  had 
finished  its  session,  he  remained  for  more  than  a 
month  in  Philadelphia,  under  the  care  of  the  most 
eminent  jAiysicians  of  that  city.  Their  skill  restored 
him  to  a  degree  of  comfort  and  health  which  he  had 
not  known  for  years,  and  they  gave  him  reason  to 
hope  that,  with  proper  care,  his  health  might  be 
completely  re-established.  But  the  expectation 
which  they  entertained  was  vain.  Though  the 
Bishop,  previously  to  this  period,  was  noted  for  the 
recklessness  with  which  he  exposed  his  health  and 
life  in  the  labors  of  his  vocation,  he  seems  to  have 
been  impressed  by  the  opinion  of  these  eminent 
medical  advisers  with  the  absolute  necessity  of 
more  prudence,  and  thenceforward  to  have  yielded 
to  their  injunctions  ;  but  a  sudden  and  violent  change 
of  weather  exposing  him  to  severe  cold  on  an  un- 
avoidable journey  to  Fayetteville,  (whither  he  was 
preparing  to  remove,)  brought  back  all  the  worst 
symptoms  of  his  disease  in  an  aggravated  form. 
Having  disposed  of  his  effects  in  Williamsborough, 
preparatory  to  his  contemplated  removal  to  Fay- 
etteville,  he  reached  Raleigh  in  December,  where 
he  designed  remaining  during  the  session  of  the  le- 
gislatui-e.    His  health  was  now,  once  more,  evident- 


ly rapidly  declining.  He  was,  however,  enabled  to 
write  a  sermon  for  the  consecration  of  Christ  Church, 
in  Raleigh,  and  to  perform  that  service.  After  that 
he  daily  gi-ew  weaker,  and  his  former  disease,  chro- 
nic diarrhcEa,  returning  with  renewed  violence,  and 
being  conjoined  with  the  double  quartan,  soon  pros- 
trated him.  In  a  letter  written  on  the  last  of  Jan- 
uary, he  says,  "  I  am  weakening  daily,  and  now  can 
just  sit  up  long  enough  at  a  time  to  scribble  a  letter 
occasionally."  "But,"  he  adds,  "as  respects  the 
result,  I  am,  thank  G-OD,  free  from  apprehension.  I 
am  ready,  I  humbly  trust,  through  the  grace  of  my 
divine  Saviour,  to  meet  the  will  of  God,  whether 
that  shall  be  for  life  or  for  death ;  and  I  humbly 
thank  Chkist  Jesus,  my  Lord,  who  sustains  me  in 
patience  and  cheerfulness  through  the  valley  and 
shadow  of  death." 

For  many  weeks  previous  to  his  dissolution,  he 
was  fully  persuaded  that  his  sickness  was  unto 
death,  and  spoke  of  his  decease  as  certain,  and  at 
no  great  distance;  but  manifested  the  utmost  calm- 
ness in  the  contemplation  of  it.  "  Why  should  I 
desire  to  live  ?"  said  he.  "  There  is  nothing  to  bind 
me  to  this  world.  The  last  earthly  tie  has  been 
broken.  Nevertheless,  I  am  perfectly  resigned  to 
the  will  of  God,  either  to  go  or  stay.  I  feel  no 
anxiety  about  the  issue."  During  the  whole  of  his 
illness,  his  conduct  was  such  as  to  satisfy  every 
one,  that  he  felt  no  apprehensions  at  the  thought  of 
death.  He  retained  the  peculiarities  of  liis  charac- 
ter to  the  last;  the  same  ardent  love  and  zeal  for  \ 
the  truth,  the  same  fearless  rebuke  and  condemna- 
tion of  error,  marked  his  character  on  a  sick  and 
dying  bed,  which  had  so  eminently  distinguished  | 
him  through  life ;  and  he  let  slip  no  opportunity  of  ^| 
bearing  testimony  to  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  aud 
as  it  is  held  and  taught  by  the  Church  of  which  he 
was  a  Bishop.  "  On  one  occasion,"  writes  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Freeman,  (who  attended  him  in  his  last  mo- 
ments,) "  several  persons  being  present,  I  turned  to 
the  book  of  Proverbs,  and  read  to  those  who  were 
sitting  by  me  the  following  passage,  (chap.  20.  v. 
21.)  An  inheritance  may  he  gotten  hastily  at  the 
beginning,  but  the  end  thereof  shall  not  be  llessed, 
and  proceeded  to  observe, how  little  encouragement 
was  afforded  by  this  passage  for  a  man  to  make 
haste  to  be  rich,  &c.  When  I  ceased  speaking,  the 
Bishop,  who  I  thought  was  not  attending  to  what 
passed,  exclaimed,  'There  is  another  lesson  to  be 
learned  from  it.  /It  may  be  applied  to  those  who 
have  hastily  obtained  a  religious  inheritance — who 
place  their  dependence  on  those  sudden  aud  eva- 
nescent fervors  which  they  have  experienced  in 
some  moment  of  excitement.'  ]  With  respect  to  his  , 
own  pi'ospects,  he  appeared  to  entertain  no  appre- 
hensions. I  asked  him,  a  few  days  before  his  de- 
cease, if  he  had  never  during  his  illness  been  trou- 
bled with  doubts  and  misgivings?  'Never,'  said 
he.  '  So  free  have  I  been  from  any  suggestions  of 
the  enemy,  that  I  have  never  doubted  for  a  moment, 
except  that  the  thought  has  sometimes  come  over 


Biographical  Sketch  of  Right  E.ev.  John  Stark  Ravenscroft. 


171  ^1 


me  that  my  tranquillity  is  possibly  an  evidence  that 
Satan  thinks  himself  sure  of  me,  and  therefore  lets 
me  alone.'  On  my  answering,  that  as  he  had  been 
laboring  to  pull  down  Satan's  kingdom— had  been 
constantly  engaged  in  fighting,  not  in  his  ranks,  but 
in  opposition  to  him,  it  was  not  reasonable  to  sup- 
pose that  he  had  any  claims  upon  him.  '  True,'  said 
he,  'but  then  I  have  had  such  a  body  of  sin  to 
struggle  against,  and  seem  now  to  have  been  so 
much  engaged  in  preaching  myself  rather  than 
God,  that  I  feel  humbled  to  the  dust.  My  only 
ground  of  consolation  is  that  as  Christ  suffered  in 
weakness  for  our  redemption,  much  more  may  we 
hope  to  be  saved  by  the  power  of  his  resurrection.' 
Speaking  of  his  enfeebled  state,  and  what  he  called 
the  wandering  of  his  thoughts,  he  remarked  on  the 
folly  of  delaying  i-epentance  to  a  sick  bed,  and  ex- 
pressed, as  he  had  often  done  before,  his  desire  to 
warn  every  one  of  the  hopelessness  of  being  able 
to  settle  on  a  dying  bed  so  vast  a  concern  as  that  of 
making  one's  peace  with  God.  '  If  I  had  my  work 
now  all  to  do,  what  would  become  of  me  ?  If  I  had 
put  off  this  matter  to  this  time,  it  must  have  been 
entirely  neglected.' 

"  He  received  the  Holy  Communion  once  while 
on  his  sick  bed,  and  had  appointed  to  receive  it 
again  a  few  days  before  his  death.  But  when  the 
time  came,  he  was  so  much  exhausted  by  the  pre- 
parations which  he  bad  made,  and  which  he  would 
not  omit,  in  order  that  he  might  come,  as  he  ex- 
pressed himself,  'literally  clean  to  the  heavenly 
feast.'  that  he  was  obliged  to  forego  the  opportunity. 
'I  am  not  in  a  condition,'  said  he,  'to  partake  dis- 
cerningly, and  I  have  no  superstitious  notions  res- 
pecting the  Eucharist — I  do  not  regard  it  as  a  via- 
ticum, necessary  to  the  safety  of  the  departing  soul. 
I  believe  that  in  my  case  the  will  will  be  accepted 
for  the  deed ;  and  tell  my  brethren  (who  were  as- 
sembled in  the  next  room  to  partake  with  him)  that 
though  I  am  denied  the  privilege  of  shouting  the 
praises  of  redeeming  love  once  more  with  them, 
around  the  table  of  our  common  Lord,  yet  I  will 
commune  with  them  in  spirit.'  ' 

"  The  evening  before  his  death,  I  had  left  him  for 
a  few  moments.  Soon  after,  receiving  intelligence 
that  he  was  dying,  I  hastened  to  him,  and  found  him 
nearly  speechless,  and  sinking  to  all  appearance 
very  fast.  I  asked  him  if  I  should  pray.  '  I  cannot 
follow  yon,'  was  his  reply,  uttered  with  great  difiS- 
culty.  I  then  kneeled  down  by  him,  and  prayed 
silently.  After  some  moments,  he  seemed  to  revive. 


and  motioned  to  us  to  retire  from  his  bed-side,  and 
leave  him  undisturbed.  I  sat  and  watchedhim  from 
that  time  till  he  expired,  which  he  did  about  one  « 
o'clock  the  following  morning,  (March  5th,  1830,)  1 
without  having  spoken  for  five  or  six  hours.  He 
appeared,  however,  to  be  in  the  entire  possession 
of  his  mind  to  the  last,  and  expired  without  a 
struggle." 

The  remains  of  Bishop  Ravenscroft  were  depos- 
ited within  a  small  vault,  which  had  been  prepared 
under  his  directions  some  weeks  before  his  death, 
beneath  the  chance!  of  Christ  Clmrch,  in  the  city  of 
Raleigh.  The  following  instructions  respecting  his 
burial,  were  found  in  his  will,  and  punctually  per- 
formed. "My  will  and  desire  is,  that  the  coffin  to 
contain  my  mortal  remains  be  of  plain  pine  wood, 
stained  black,  and  without  ornament  of  any  kind — 
that  my  body  be  carried  to  the  grave  by  my  old 
horse  Pleasant,  led  by  my  old  servant  Johnson — that 
the  service  for  the  burial  of  the  dead,  as  set  forth  in 
the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  and  none  other,  be 
used  at  my  interment,  with  the  5th,  7th,  9th,  10th, 
and  11th  verses  of  the  16th  Psalm,  to  be  used  in- 
stead of  the  hymn  commonly  sung  ;  and  that  the 
Rev.  George  W.  Freeman,  Rector  of  Christ  Church, 
Raleigh,  do  perform  the  said  funeral  rites." 

The  following  further  extract  from  the  Bishop's 
will  exhibits  an  amiable  ti'ait  of  his  character. — "  I 
give  to  A.  M'Harg  Hepburn  and  E.  M.  Hepburn, 
whom  I  have  brought  up  as  my  children,  my  servant 
Johnson,  and  my  favorite  old  horse  Pleasant,  be- 
lieving that  they  will  be  kind  to  Johnson  for  my  sake, 
keeping  him  from  idleness  and  vice,  but  suiting  his 
labor  to  his  infirm  condition;  and  that  they  will  not 
suffer  Pleasant  to  be  exposed  to  any  hardship  or 
want  in  his  old  age,  but  will  allow  Johnson  to  attend 
him,  as  he  has  been  accustomed  to  do." 

His  entire  collection  of  books  and  pamphlets, 
which  were  valuable,  he  bequeathed  to  the  diocese  «j 
of  North  Carolina,  "  to  form  the  commencement  of  a 
library  for  the  use  and  benefit  of  the  clergy  and 
laity  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  North 
Carolina." 

To  the  "  EpiscopalBible,  Prayer  Book,  Tract,  and 
Missionary  Society,"  of  the  diocese,  in  the  forma- 
tion of  which  he  had  taken  a  very  warm  interest, 
he  left  the  copy-right  of  such  publications  of  his 
works  as  his  friends  might  think  it  expedient  to  ji 
make,  which  are  now  collected  in  the  volumes  to  || 
which  this  Memoir  is  prefixed. 


172 


The  Early  Persecutions  of  Christians. 


THE   EARLY   PERSECUTIONS   OF  CHRISTIANS. 


FIRST  CENTURY. 


PART  I. 


N  arranging  a  sketch  of  the 
early  persecutions  it  be- 
comes necessary  to  deter- 
mine whether  to  consider 
them  under  the  titles  first, 
second,  third,  and  so  on  to  the  tenth) 
according  to  a  very  generally  re- 
ceived method,  or  adopt  some  other 
plan  more  strictlyin  accordance  with 
the  tenor  and  truth  of  history. 
The  number  is  greater  than  ten,  if  we  in- 
clude the  provincial  and  more  limited  perse- 
cutions. But  if  we  reckon  only  the  general 
,  and  severer  ones,  the  number  is  fewer.  The 
prevailing  computation  seems  to  have  taken 
its  rise  in  the  fifth  century ;  and  with  some  pro- 
bably well-disposed  individuals,  who  reached 
\  their  conclusions  more  through  an  arbitrary 
interpretation  of  prophecy  than  by  historical 
evidence.  Lactantius,  in  the  fourth  century, 
makes  mention  of  only  six  persecutions.  Eu- 
sebius,  though  he  enters  into  no  formal  enu- 
meration, appears  to  mention  nine.  The  same 
number  is  adopted  by  Sulpicius  Severn^,  in 
the  fifth  century:  he  prepares  his  readers, 
however,  for  the  infliction  of  the  tenth  and 
last  by  Antichrist  at  the  end  of  the  world. 
From  that  time,  ten  embraced  the  popular 
idea. 

The  truth  seems  to  be  that  not  more  than 
l!  four  or  five  of  the  emperors  were  guilty  of  i 
the  deliberate  and  unrelenting  persecutions 
which  are  so  freely  set  down  to  the  disgrace 
of  as  many  more.    It  is  allowed  that  there 
were  numerous  other  instances  in  which 
Christians  suffered  because  of  their  belief  in  \ 
their  divine  Master  and  devotion  to  his  cause  ; 
but  it  is  more  than  doubted  whether  theyi 
should  be  included  in  the  list  of  the  generally , 
severe  and  f)revai]ing  afflictions  which  stand ' 


out  on  the  pages  of  ancient  records  as  the  pe- 
culiarly bloody  and  striking  evidences  of  the 
hatred  of  Heathenism  to  the  Gospel. 

Under  the  convictions  thus  expressed,  and 
because  we  would  not  appear  to  slight  any 
trial  or  form  of  adversity  endured  by  the 
early  followers  of  our  Lord,  it  is  deemed 
best  to  arrange  our  details  and  comments  with 
reference  to  the  centuries  in  which  the  perse- 
tions  were  encountered,  rather  than  with  re- 
spect to  their  relative  place  or  rank  in  any 
numerical  classification. 

The  first  persecution  suffered  by  the  Chris- 
tians at  the  hands  of  the  Gentiles,  began 
about  the  middle  of  November,  A.  D.  64. 
It  continued  until  the  death  of  its  imperial 
instigator,  in  A.  D.  68.  Its  duration  was, 
therefore,  about  four  years.  As  Nero  is,  on 
all  hands,  conceded  to  have  occasioned  it,  a 
preliminary  consideration  of  his  character  and 
some  parts  of  his  life  is  deemed  an  important 
if  not  necessary  portion  of  these  inquiries  and 
discussions  :  and  though  to  some  it  may  as- 
sume the  appearance  of  an  episode,  our  no- 
tions of  duty  impel  us  to  enter  upon  it. 

When  Nero  succeeded  Claudius  on  the 
throne  of  the  Roman  empire,  he  gave  promise 
of  being  the  blessing  and  delight  of  his  peo- 
ple. He  was  but  seventeen  years  old  when 
he  began  to  reign ;  and  yet  he  had  already 
established  a  reputation  worthy  of  the  pupil 
of  the  philosophic  Seneca.  For  nearly  five 
years  he  administered  the  government  in  a 
way  deemed  fit  to  be  held  up  as  a  pattern  for 
all  princes.  Had  he  continued  to  govern  with 
the  same  virtue  to  the  end  of  his  days,  but  few 
names  in  the  annals  of  mankind  Would  have 
been  brighter  than  his.  The  famous  emperor 
Trajan  used  to  say,  "  That  for  the  first  five 
years  of  this  prince,  all  other  governments 


E-WCE^/ED    TilEL   THE  E\-ERimErN" 


r 


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